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    <title>DEV Community: Mubashir Ahmad</title>
    <description>The latest articles on DEV Community by Mubashir Ahmad (@privacydev).</description>
    <link>https://dev.to/privacydev</link>
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      <title>DEV Community: Mubashir Ahmad</title>
      <link>https://dev.to/privacydev</link>
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    <item>
      <title>I built a free JSON formatter that works 100% offline — because I was tired of pasting secrets into random websites</title>
      <dc:creator>Mubashir Ahmad</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sat, 14 Mar 2026 10:58:20 +0000</pubDate>
      <link>https://dev.to/privacydev/i-built-a-free-json-formatter-that-works-100-offline-because-i-was-tired-of-pasting-secrets-into-4me2</link>
      <guid>https://dev.to/privacydev/i-built-a-free-json-formatter-that-works-100-offline-because-i-was-tired-of-pasting-secrets-into-4me2</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Every developer has done this.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You grab a JSON response from your API, paste it into some random online formatter, &lt;br&gt;
and suddenly realize — wait, that had my database credentials in it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;That moment of panic is why I built this tool.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2&gt;
  
  
  What I Built
&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;A completely free, 100% offline JSON formatter, validator, and auto-repair tool.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;👉 &lt;a href="https://secure-json-repair.netlify.app/" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;https://secure-json-repair.netlify.app/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;No server. No database. No tracking. Zero network requests when you use it.&lt;br&gt;
You can literally turn off your WiFi and it still works perfectly.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2&gt;
  
  
  Features
&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Format &amp;amp; Beautify&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Paste messy JSON and instantly get clean, indented, readable output.&lt;br&gt;
Choose between 2 spaces, 4 spaces, or tabs.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Auto-Repair&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;
This is my favourite feature. Most tools just say "your JSON is invalid."&lt;br&gt;
This tool actually fixes it. It automatically cleans up:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Trailing commas (the #1 JSON mistake)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Single-quoted strings&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Unquoted keys&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;JavaScript comments&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Collapsible Tree View&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Explore deeply nested JSON by collapsing and expanding nodes.&lt;br&gt;
Hover over any key to copy its exact dot-notation path like&lt;br&gt;
&lt;code&gt;users[0].address.city&lt;/code&gt; — super useful for writing queries.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sort Keys A→Z&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Recursively sort all object keys alphabetically with one click.&lt;br&gt;
Great for comparing API responses.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Light &amp;amp; Dark Mode&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Respects your system preference. Saves your choice locally.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Syntax Highlighting&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;
One Dark Pro inspired theme with JetBrains Mono font.&lt;br&gt;
Feels like VS Code in a browser tab.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2&gt;
  
  
  Why I Care About This
&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I work with APIs every day. JSON is everywhere.&lt;br&gt;
And almost every online JSON tool I found either:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Sends your data to a server&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Shows you ads&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Looks like it was built in 2009&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Just tells you the JSON is broken without helping you fix it&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I wanted something that felt like a proper developer tool.&lt;br&gt;
Clean, fast, private, and actually helpful when things go wrong.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2&gt;
  
  
  Tech Stack
&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Just vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.&lt;br&gt;
No frameworks. No dependencies. No build step.&lt;br&gt;
One single HTML file you could save to your desktop and use forever.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2&gt;
  
  
  Try It
&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;👉 &lt;a href="https://secure-json-repair.netlify.app/" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;https://secure-json-repair.netlify.app/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It's completely free. Always will be.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Would love your feedback — what features would make this more useful for your workflow?&lt;/p&gt;

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      <category>javascript</category>
      <category>webdev</category>
      <category>opensource</category>
      <category>productivity</category>
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